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SI Article and Cleveland

Posted: Wed Apr 30, 2008 10:53 pm
by J Hrlec
Saw that Cleveland's field was rated best in a poll run by SI... interesting...

Tribe fans voted their Progressive Field as the best ballpark in baseball.
These are your rankings. They are based solely on results taken from an online survey of baseball fans in March, when we asked readers to rate their hometown ballpark in 10 categories. As a group, these fans know of what they speak: Nearly 15 percent of the responses came from season-ticket holders, and more than half of all the responses came from fans who attend at least five games per season.

Essentially, this is a measure of how satisfied fans are with their hometown ballpark experience. The happiest? Cleveland. Progressive Field, home of the Indians, finished first with Milwaukee's Miller Park a close runner-up. The Florida Marlins brought up the rear, which is not surprising considering they play in a football stadium under the oppressively hot South Florida sun.

Inside each team page we added a couple of extras that did not weigh into the rankings but we thought were interesting nonetheless, such as the Team Marketing Report data on ticket costs (Arizona's Chase Field ranked first for cheapest average ticket at $15.96 and Boston's Fenway Park was last at $48.80) and the player who is the biggest star attraction (Brandon Phillips beat out Ken Griffey Jr. in Cincinnati). We also included reader comments on food, hospitality and promotional giveaways.

We weighed all 10 categories equally, which hurt some of the grand old ballparks such as Wrigley Field (15th), Yankee Stadium (20th), Fenway Park (21st) and Dodger Stadium (22nd) but rewarded franchises that offer a better all-around experience.

Post your own comments on the rankings here and see what other readers have to say.